Gap & Netflix Customers Weren't Happy With Them This Holiday Season
Tis the season to get mad at companies for not living up to our standards! Netflix, Overstock.com and Gap were just a few of the holiday disappointments this year in the realm of online shopping, according to a new survey of consumers.
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Is Gap's Policy Of Not Price-Matching Its Own Website Ridiculous?
Some retailers have the practical policy that if the price advertised on their website for a product, that price will be matched in a physical store. Not so with Gap, apparently, as Consumerist reader Cara says she tried to get a price adjustment recently and was denied.
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Banana Republic Says The Sale Items I Ordered Are No Longer Available, But Really They Are
Spotting a 40% off sale is a gleeful event — better than a measly 30% and
almost at that sweet half-off price. So when Andrew stumbled upon just such a sale online at Banana Republic's site yesterday, he acted quickly to nab some of his favorite items. Speed didn't matter, in this case.
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Study: JCPenney, Avon, Gap Websites Are Worst At Responding To Customer E-Mails
After years of being trained to dread contacting a company via phone, lest we get trapped in the automated phone tree, customers are turning to e-mail for resolving their customer service issues. And while a new study shows that a majority of the top online retailers did a passable job of replying to customer inquiries, a handful of websites apparently decided to give their e-mail customer service teams some extra time off this holiday season.
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Banana Republic Clerk Misled Me Into Opening Another Credit Card
When Jessica went shopping at Banana Republic last month, she forgot her store credit card. That was OK, the sales clerk assured her: she just needed Jessica's Social Security number and for her to sign off on the transaction in order to access her existing card data in the system. Most people are so used to having our forgotten store loyalty cards looked up using our phone numbers that this seems natural enough. Only it wasn't - by providing her SSN and signature, Jessica was actually applying for a Banana Republic Visa card.
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One In Three Gap Stores In U.S. Will Be Closed By End Of 2013
Earlier today, the folks at once-mammoth clothing retailer Gap Inc. announced plans to shutter even more of its namesake Gap stores in the U.S. over the next 14.5 months, bringing the total number of stores to only 700 by the end of 2013.
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Vote Here For The Worst Ad In America Awards!
You told us which TV ads annoy you the most, now it's time to select the worst of the worst!
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Announcing The 2011 Worst Ad In America Nominees!
For the second year in a row,
we asked you to tell us which TV commercials get on your last nerve, and you didn't hold back. After sifting through hundreds of comments and e-mails, we've finally whittled down all those annoying ads to the elite few worthy of recognition in the Second Annual Consumerist Worst Ad In America Awards.
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The 8 Largest U.S. Retailers With The Worst Sales
If we'd told you 10 years ago that Borders and Circuit City would vanish off the face of the planet and Blockbuster Video would be auctioned off to a satellite TV provider for pocket change, many people would have expressed disbelief. But those once-great stores have had their heyday in history, so now it's time to look into the magic 8 ball to see if doom lies ahead for other major retailers.
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Negotiate Your Own Sale At The Gap
Have you ever shopped for clothes online and said to yourself, "Man, I wish this could be more like Priceline, where I could name my own price, but the selection is limited and the deals not all that great?" The Gap is here to help you achieve that dream, with their new "Gap My Price" site. It's as if Gap and Priceline got together and spawned a largely useless but mildly entertaining deal site that generates coupons you can't use online.
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Are We Just Outsourcing Our Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Tragedies?
When
we noted the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on March 25, you might have looked at that and thought, phew, good thing stuff like that isn't happening anymore. But in developing countries around the world with little to no worker rights and sweatshops paying pennies a day, it is. Like in Bangladesh in December 2010 when 29 workers died after a fire swept through the Hameem garment factory. The workers were trapped inside because guards had been ordered to lock the gates in the event of a fire in order to prevent clothes from being stolen during the confusion. The factory made clothes for GAP.
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Gap Wants You To Haggle Over Some Khaki Pants
In what we can only assume is a desperate attempt to make shopping for the world's most boring item fun, the Gap is running
a one-day-only promotion where you, the internet-savvy shopper, can haggle over khaki pants while potentially not even wearing any.
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Apparently, No One At The Gap Has Ever Looked At The Internet
Much like the makers of
this "modern claddagh" ring, the person or persons responsible for naming these "New Pegged Boyfriend" jeans have apparently never whiled away the hours looking at the seedier side of the internet.
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Banana Republic Register Mishap Leaves You With Neither GIft Card Balance Nor Clothes
The good news: There is a store that will accept American Express gift cards
without even trying to throw you in jail. It's Banana Republic. The bad news: A still-unexplained register problem left Andrew without the $90 remaining balance on his card or the items that he tried to purchase.
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The Gap: Only Some Of Our "Made In U.S.A." Bags Are Made In China
Yesterday, we reported on
some confusion at The Gap. The sign for its Feed USA campaign, which donates $5 from the sale of certain bags to a school lunch program, clearly states "Made in the U.S.A.," while the label on the bag beneath the sign states "Made In China." Today, the retailer has reached out to Consumerist to try to clarify the matter.
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At The Gap, "50% Off All Sweaters" Is Essentially Meaningless
One would think that with a major national retailer such as The Gap, promotional signage would be carefully coordinated on a national basis. Local stores wouldn't be slapping whatever placards they have lying around in the store window, whether or not the sales advertised on those placards are actually happening, and regardless of whether the prices on the placards are actually true. Jeremy tells Consumerist that... well, at his local Gap, that pretty much seems to be the case.
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Why Do Stores Keep Sending Me Someone Else's Stuff?
Consumerist reader Valerie is in a bit of a pickle — over the last couple of weeks, packages have been piling up at her doorstep, which would be nice if she had actually ordered them.
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Gap Scraps Crap Logo
This might be some kind of record. Only a few days after The Gap unleashed its
spare new logo to a rousing chorus of boos, the clothing retailer has backtracked and ditched the updated branding entirely.
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Save Thousands; Create Your Own Crappy Gap Logo In Seconds
As soon as The Gap's
underwhelmingly crappy new logo hit the internet, many puzzled haters commented that they could make the same logo with even the most bare-bones design software. Well, now they don't even have to go to that minimal effort with Crap Logo Yourself.
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Gap Already Admitting That New Logo Sorta Sucks
Earlier today, we wrote about the harsh criticism
already being heaped upon the new — but not exactly improved — Gap logo. And apparently the negative feedback already has the retail chain on the lookout for something newer and improveder.
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New Gap Logo: Next Tropicana-Style Redesign Flop?
The marketing geniuses at The Gap seem to have fiddled around with Photoshop for a few minutes and designed a new company logo that's as bland and uninteresting as jeans and a black t-shirt. It's not ugly, but it's not memorable or creative, either. What were they thinking?
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Vote Here For Worst Ad In America 2010!
September 25, 2010 4:15 PM
Now that the
nominees have been announced for Consumerist's First Annual Worst Ad In America Awards, it's time to get your vote on!
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This Gap Manager Doesn't Want Your Groupon Coupon
Alex and his wife bought into a
Groupon offer for Gap, where you could buy $50 worth of merchandise for $25. Everything was going great until they ran into a manager at their local store who refused to even ring up the pants they'd chosen, saying anything already discounted wasn't eligible for the offer.
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Gap's Ad Wizards Think You're Too Fat For Shorts
The ad game is built on making consumers self-conscious, but most advertisements tend to avoid the route of making fun of potential buyers.
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This Old Navy Hasn't Yet Grasped Concept Of "Sale"
Generally speaking, when a store advertises an item as being "on sale," they usually mean that the price of said item has been discounted. But it looks like Old Navy's Fundamentals Sale includes some items that are merely just for sale.
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Old Navy Restricts Drunken Revelry To Ages 13 And Up
Michael found this festive "I Rish I Was Drunk" button in an Old Navy store earlier this month. The fine print at the bottom warns, "Not intended for 12 years and under." Ages thirteen and up? Pass the Guinness, apparently.
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Old Navy Refunds Entire Coat Purchase Price When Buttons Fall Off
Old Navy produces solid, inexpensive clothing, but isn't a brand that one normally associates with high-end customer service. Yet Ashley had such a great experience after a catastrophic coat button loss, she just had to share. She tells Consumerist that after some decorative buttons fell off her coat, the company simply gave her a store credit for the full purchase price of the coat.
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VIDEO: Stores Caught Restocking Used Underwear & Lingerie
We try not to be too paranoid about the cleanliness of things we purchase. We'll purchase used books, buy vintage clothing, drive pre-owned cars. But the "Ick Factor," as it's known in the world of science, jumps off the charts when it comes to used undies. But that's exactly what NBC claims to have discovered at several retail stores.
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If you're seeking a price adjustment on your Gap clothes, don't put it off. Heather writes in to warn that the price adjustment period at the Gap and Banana Republic has been reduced from 14 days to 7. Old Navy remains at 14 days. More »
These Gap Pants Are On Sale For Ten Dollars More Than The Original Price
—>Reader Ryan caught his local Gap offering a great deal on some snazzy pants: only ten dollars more than the original price! More »
GAP Sells Bikes For Holidays. We Don't Know Why.
—>GAP has a new promo for the holidays. They're selling bikes, covered in an argyle pattern. We can only speculate as to dear God why. Perhaps it's so shoppers can flee from the fashion fiasco that is their retail chain even faster. More »
Sweatshop In Queens Produced Clothes For Macy's, the Gap, Banana Republic, Urban Apparel, and Victoria's Secret
—>New York state labor officials are bringing one of their largest cases ever against Jin Shun, a clothing factory in Queens, New York that employed Chinese immigrants. Inspectors say the company
- cheated its workers out of more than $5 million in pay;
- instructed workers to lie to state inspectors;
- required 6 and 7-day workweeks, sometimes for up to 120 days at a time;
- didn't pay overtime or minimum wage;
- kept two sets of timecards to fake-out inspectors.
Macy's says they're "very concerned" about the case and are investigating it, the Gap says they're cooperating with authorities, and Victoria's Secret says they have a "zero tolerance policy" for factories that are unwilling to work with them to achieve compliance—all of which makes us wonder whether any of these companies ever investigated the factory personally. (It's not like it was in some remote part of China.)
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Friendly Gap Cashier Pockets Lost Wallet
—>Alenaya traced her lost wallet to a recently visited Gap and pieced together a disturbing story:
Seemingly, walked away from register and wallet fell out of pocket. Kind customer behind me gives to cashier, who sticks it on the side of the register and does not log or tell manager my wallet fell. More »
Gap Responds To Child Slave Labor Scandal
—>The Gap has pledged $200,000 to to improve working conditions in India, where only some forms of child labor are outlawed, and it also promised to tighten its own standards. The retailer canceled half of its orders with the vendor in India that was responsible for subcontracting the workshop in which children who had been sold to the factory were working off the debt by embroidering clothing for Gap Kids. More »
Amy Poehler And Will Arnett Attempt To Save The Gap
—> According to OK! magazine, Amy Poehler of Saturday Night Live and husband, Will Arnett, from Arrested Development are the latest celebrities to attempt to save the GAP by wearing its clothing in advertisements. More »
GAP Caught Using Child Labor To Produce "GAP Kids" Clothing
—>A freelance journalist has caught the GAP using child labor to produce hand embroidered clothing for its GAP Kids line. The children, who are as young as 10, are quoted as saying they were sold to the factory by their families and cannot leave until their debt is paid. A video of the factory's squalid conditions shows GAP Kids labels on the clothing. More »
Hey Shoppers: Apparently, You Still Hate The Gap
—>Even though the Gap was kind enough to address (er, refute) our reader's observations about the Gap's general state of crappiness, we haven't forgotten that the store isn't doing so well sales-wise, and it is therefore our sad duty to inform you that same store sales are down 7%. More »
Gap Says Laptop Containing Job Applicant Data Stolen
—>Gap is disclosing that a laptop filled with job applicant data has been stolen. The laptop contained the personal information of 800,000 job applicants, including social security numbers. More »
Old Navy Hires Todd Oldham As Creative Director
—>Todd Oldham has a new job: Fixing Old Navy. According to the New York Times, Todd has been hired to attract shoppers in their 20's, a group Old Navy has identified as their target market after years of "trying to be all things to all people." More »
Why Do You Hate The Gap? The Gap Responds To Your Complaints
—>Mike Antonucci at the San Jose Mercury News took your complaints to the Gap's top brass and got some interesting responses. They even responded to our editorializing about the Gap's general state of failure with some upbeat sentences touting their own profitability. Whoops! We guess we were wrong and everything is just fine. Wait, what about the three-year sales slump, the recent layoffs, and the fact that same-store sales (the most important indicator of the health of a retail operation) have fallen in 12 consecutive quarters. Teehee! Sorry, we were sooo mean! More »
Dear New Gap CEO: Here's How To Fix Your Stores
—>A while back we asked the readers to tell us what was wrong with Gap, INC. Since we asked, they've sh*tcanned their CEO, closed a chain of stores, launched new ad campaigns featuring celebrities, rethought their merchandise and...nothing has has helped. More »
GAP CEO's Email Address
—>According to a tipster, this is the email address for the CEO of GAP: Bob_fisher_ceo@gap.com More »
More Crap About The GAP
Pressler's penny-pinching may have turned off the Gap's core customers. Sweaters that were once 100% cotton or wool, for example, showed up in stores as acrylic blends, and people noticed. Banana Republic tried to woo the same high-end consumers as J. Crew but didn't go far enough in offering luxury fabrics, like cashmere, that those shoppers wanted. In 2005, while department stores couldn't sell enough $100-plus premium jeans, the Gap skipped denim and tried to push khakis. "Pressler went too far in focusing on costs at the expense of merchandising," says Christine Chen, senior research analyst at Pacific Growth Equities. "Sometimes you just need to go with your gut and do what makes sense to get customers in the door."
The article also mentions the way in which stores like H&M refresh their looks faster, drawing in and keeping customers in their 20s and 30s. By the time a look hits the GAP, it's already over, and possibly expensive for the store and unflattering for the customer (skinny jeans?)
—MEGHANN MARCO More »
Fink On Your Employer: Gap Inc.
—>Dog-like sycophants that we are, we love loyalty. Especially when people are more loyal to The Consumerist than the organization that helps them have a roof over their hands. A little bird tweets into our ear about the sugar daddy who pays his bills, Gap, Inc. Looks like they had a lot of whacky doodle malarkey going on with their online shopping system this week. Looks like we got a new stoolie as well. More »
Stagnating Gap
—>Slate is looking at the Gap and wondering what the fuck happened. More »
